If asked to name their best friend, most people would have a name ready — and it wouldn’t be Google (though Siri — the iPhone’s digital assistant program — might have a shot at some people’s top five list).

But, Google’s new Director of Engineering Ray Kurzweil hopes to change all of our minds on that subject. He plans to make Google so indispensable that it predicts what we’re going to ask.

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As I celebrated another birthday on Wednesday, it was a time for reflection about the people of my generation.

To give a ballpark figure for my age, I’ll just say it was 1998 when I graduated from college.

During my grade-school years, our whole school joined hands and sang “We are the World,” and certain forms of discipline must still have been acceptable in the classroom. Each time a kid got called to the principal’s office, we assumed they were getting paddled. I recall my third-grade teacher punishing students by making them sit up on their knees in front of their desks or standing with their nose against their locker.

The “Giant” musical production world premiere at the Wyly Theater in the Dallas Arts District was an incredible first for me.

Sometimes I’m faced with what a country bumpkin I truly am — not because I came from Ruston, but because Dallas does everything bigger than life and I have to stretch my wings. I learned the art of growing in a smaller environment and was inspired to reach for the stars, and now I can revel in it.

Today is New Year’s Day. For most people that means food, football and maybe a few well-intended resolutions.

But for local political junkies, today begins the official countdown to the 2014 election season. And what a year it’s shaping up to be. Even though the candidate elections aren’t until November, the contenders are already making their intentions known.